Stalker
by DarkNymfa
Summary: "You are Danny Fenton," the ghost said, simply. Its tone was hard to read with the echo. Then, suddenly, it smirked at him. In his ear, it whispered, "I'm Danny Phantom." (Ectoberweek2019, Day 2)


Day two! Content warnings for stalking (as implied by the prompt/title), feelings of helplessness (caused by people not listening), and general life-ruining shenanigans. This was going to be all angst but I couldn't write interactions between Danny and Jazz without making her helpful, so...

Again, I haven't proofread any of this yet, because I'm in a bit of a time crunch. I'm gonna edit them all over the next few weeks, so if you catch any errors, please let me know! Also because English still isn't my first language and I can't learn from my mistakes if I don't realize I'm making them.

* * *

A hand landed on Danny's shoulder, and he whirled around, muscles tensing. When he saw it was just Tucker, he relaxed again.

Until Tucker said, frowning, "Dude, how could you do that to me? You know how much I paid for that PDA!"

He spent a moment processing that, then swept Tucker's hand off of his shoulder and turned around again. "I didn't do it, man. How often do I have to tell you guys that I'm not responsible for _his_ actions?"

"Oh, come on! Stop giving us that crappy excuse!" Tucker hurried after him, his footsteps loud in the emptying hallway. "Just tell me why you wrecked my PDA, man!"

Danny stopped. Turned around to face Tucker, leaning in close. Then he growled, "I _didn't_ destroy your PDA, Tuck. Tell me, was it me? Or was it that damn ghost that keeps pretending to be me?"

Tucker scoffed, pushing Danny away. "Whatever, dude. I'm done with your mood swings and all of this _bullshit_. You can come talk to me again when you're sorted out your shit, alright?"

And before Danny got a chance to reply, Tucker left.

Well.

Shit.

There went another lifelong friendship, huh?

* * *

Danny felt cold crawl over his spine, and immediately stopped walking. A glowing being faded into visibility in front of him. A ghost.

It met his eyes, glowing green ones blinking back at him.

"Hi," he said, hesitantly. After the activation of the ghost portal in the basement, his parents had doubled down on ghostly education. Their recommended course of action when encountering a ghost was to fight it, but, well. Danny wasn't carrying any equipment, and he really wasn't looking to anger this ghost, anyway.

The ghost blinked again, and didn't reply.

"Uh." Danny licked his lips, resisting the temptation to glance around. He didn't want to look away. "Cool. Can I, uh, go?"

It blinked again. Then it tilted its head slightly, like a confused dog.

Danny shifted to the side slightly, like he was about to turn around, when the ghost opened its mouth.

"No," it said, voice ethereal and echoing. It didn't move to stop Danny.

"Oh." He shifted back to where he had been when the ghost had appeared. "Alright, sure, okay."

They stared at each other for a while longer, Danny growing increasingly restless. Why was it just _looking_ at him? It insisted that he stay, but _why_? What was going on?

He had just reached the point where he was seriously deliberating the option to just sprint past the ghost when it spoke up again.

"You are Danny Fenton," it said, simply. Its tone was hard to read with the echo.

"Uh… yes?" He shrugged at it, uncertain why it mattered. Wait. Had his parents pissed off this ghost, and was it now back to take revenge by attacking him? "I, uh. Am afraid that I don't know who you are." Belatedly he realized that he should probably try to be polite to avoid pissing it off, and tacked on, "Sorry."

The ghost hummed, tilting its head the other way. Its hair, snow white and messy and somehow stirring in a non-existent wind, flopped along.

Then, suddenly, it smirked at him. Darted towards him, wrapping its tail around his waist and settling its hands on his shoulder. In his ear, it whispered,

"I'm Danny Phantom."

Danny shivered, and he wasn't afraid to admit that it wasn't just the cold of its breath that had caused it.

The ghost leaned over his shoulder, grinning manically, and met his eyes again. The vivid green had made its face hard to recognize from a distance, the light throwing off his features, but from this close it was undeniable.

It looked exactly like him.

"What?" Danny blurted at it, frozen in place. "What's that supposed to mean?"

It barked out a single laugh, colder than his own would ever be. "What do you _think_ it means?" It grinned viciously, its cold fingers digging into Danny's shoulders.

"I, uh." He swallowed, throat dry. He didn't know what it meant, and honestly? He didn't want to think about it. "Think that you searched me out because… we have the same first name?"

"Oh?" It hummed, sounding like it was considering this, and unwrapped its spectral tail from around Danny. "Well, I suppose you're not _entirely_ mistaken."

"Um. Good." He was caught between wanting to look away, and not wanting to lose sight of the ghost. It was acting strange, and he couldn't get a read on its intentions. "I mean, that's good, right?"

The ghost finally let go of him, moving away to float in front of him. It hummed again. "Well, you're not _quite_ what I was expecting, but that's alright. I think I can make this work."

"Uh." Danny blinked at it, trying to gauge its expression. "Make _what_ work?"

It grinned again, wide and undeniably evil. Its fingers, clad in white gloves, twitched.

"You'll see," it said.

And then Danny's world went black.

* * *

"Danny," Jazz chided, clearly moments away from a worried rant about his _safety_ and how couldn't _keep doing this, Danny_!

Oh, like he had any god damn _choice_ in the matter.

"_Jazz_," he whined back at her, expression flat. "Look, whatever you think you know, you _don't_, okay? It's not real."

She huffed, clearly annoyed. "I get it, alright, you want to keep it a secret. And I don't blame you, with your parents being, well, our parents. But you can trust _me_, Danny. I know we bicker sometimes, but I'm your _sister_, and I care about you."

"I know," he said, ignoring the ache in his chest. She cared, but she wouldn't _listen_. "Jazz, I _know_. But it's not what you think. I've told you, and if you want I'll tell you again. _I'm not Danny Phantom_."

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms. "Danny, little brother, it's not exactly _subtle_. You look almost the same, bar the white hair and the green eyes, and you even wear a color-inverted version of the jumpsuit Mom and Dad made for you. Your _name_ is a _pun_ on your actual name!"

"It's. Not_. Me_!" he yelled at her, hands coming up to dig into his scalp. "Jazz, it's not me! It has never _been_ me! That god _damn_ ghost just keeps _pretending_ to be me! Why don't you _believe_ me?!"

"Because you're a terrible liar, Danny!" She scowled at him, eyes narrowed. "And because Sam and Tucker _told_ me, when I confronted them. And guess who told them? _You_ did. So stop being such an _ass_, little brother, and let me help!"

He groaned as his fingers dug in deeper, fingernails carving into his skin. "I _do_ want you to help, Jazz! I want you to help me get _rid_ of this ghost that is ruining my _damn_ life!"

She jerked back, eyes softening a little. "Danny. I didn't- Are you _unhappy_, being half ghost? Do you want to… get rid of it?"

"I- _Yes_, fuck!" It wasn't the right conclusion, but dammit, he would take anything to get rid of Phantom. "Yes, I want it to be gone! I want to just _live my life_ again!"

"Oh. Well." She cleared her throat, suddenly looking uncertain. "I, um. I'll see what I can get out of our parents, and then we can… The four of us can sit down, discuss it?"

"I… I don't know." He shrugged, letting his arms slump down with his shoulders. "Jazz, I… Sam and Tucker don't want to talk to me anymore."

Jazz wilted a little at that, her eyes narrowing. "I… see. How come?"

"Because… Because Phantom was causing trouble for them," he finally admitted, trying to sort through his words. To explain in a way that she would accept without having to lie. "And I can't… control it. _Him_. And I don't want him to hurt anyone anymore."

"Oh, Danny." She softened entirely, pulling him against her. "We'll figure this out, okay? We'll take care of it."

* * *

When Danny woke up, it was to the nagging feeling that his life had just irreversibly gone off the tracks.

Then he remembered what had happened _before_ he had passed out. Groaning, he pushed himself into a sitting position, warily glancing around him.

Huh. He was in his room, lying on top of his bed. Not under the covers, and fully clothed, but still. That wasn't where he had been _at all_ when he'd met the ghost.

"Um," he said, uncertainly. Moved his legs off of the side of his bed, and experimentally flexed his hand. Something felt… off. Not much, but just enough to be noticeable.

And, above all, he worried. Phantom hadn't seemed friendly, by any meaning of the word, and the fact that he'd passed out while the ghost was there… Well, it didn't spell good things, did it?

He noticed his phone on his nightstand and flipped it open. No unread messages, no missed phone calls. So no one was missing him, at least.

According to the time he'd been unconscious for hours, though. That was… even more worrying. What had that ghost _done_ to him?

He scampered over to the bathroom, swayed briefly, and came to a halt in front of the mirror. Swept his hands through his hair, leaned in close, pulled open his eyes to peer into them deeply. Nothing. No signs of any difference. No damage caused by the ghost.

Nothing to explain what had happened, or how he had gotten home.

Danny slumped in on himself. God, his parents were _right_. Ghosts existed, and they were malevolent, and he could've prevented all this if he had just carried one of those stupid _weapons_. Ugh!

Honestly, not knowing what the ghost had done to him might be worse than what it had actually done. Because if he wasn't dead, and he wasn't injured, well… It couldn't have done anything _too_ bad, right?

Yeah. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Phantom couldn't have done anything to him that he wouldn't have noticed already.

Hell, maybe Phantom had just knocked him out, and his parents or Jazz brought him home! Or maybe Sam and Tucker found him!

Yeah, that definitely made more sense. His parents—and Jazz, because she was _basically_ another parent—would've hovered over him the whole time. But Sam and Tucker would've been sent home by now.

A yawn crept up on him, and suddenly he realized how tired he was. Man, did unconsciousness not count as sleeping? That's dumb.

Well, it wasn't like he was finding out anything more about what had happened with Phantom by staying up. Might as well catch up on some sleep.

It wasn't like the ghost had done something dramatic to him. Something that he would have to deal with at school tomorrow morning.

Right?

* * *

"Alright. You said that Phantom likes to search you out when you're alone?"

"Uh, yeah." He shrugged under Jazz' watchful eye. "He likes to taunt me, y'know? Really rub it in, how he- it- _whatever_ has ruined my life."

She nodded, her expression remaining thoughtful. It hadn't quite lost that skeptical edge either, but for now she seemed willing to play along, so it was good enough for him.

Honestly, just having a single person willing to _listen_ to him—to the _actual_ him—was enough. It was more than he usually got, these days.

And wasn't _that_ a depressing thought?

"We can work with that," Jazz said, suddenly, startling him out of his thoughts. "We can use that to prove that he really _is_ a distinct ghost. At least for now."

"To prove it to _you_, you mean?" He snorted, humorlessly. "Jazz, please, you're a terrible liar."

Jazz huffed, but it was lighthearted. "And so are you, little brother. But, fine, yes, this will prove that Phantom is not only a distinct ghost, rather than part of you, but will also prove that he is malevolent."

"Alright, so… How do you plan on doing that?"

"_I_ am not going to do anything." She ran a hand through her hair, fingers pulling on a strand but not quite tugging on it—a lead-up to her standard nervous tick. "If I go anywhere nearby, Phantom might spot me, and, well. No telling what will happen then."

He made a face. "Yeah, fair enough. I'm pretty sure he isn't above overshadowing you guys, and if that doesn't work, well… He's hurt people before, I think."

"Which is why we're not going to give him the opportunity." She fixed her expression into something determined. "So, you're going out on a walk today. Tonight. Alone."

"Uh. Okay?" He frowned at her. "So Phantom will come to me, but you won't be anywhere close by. What's the point of that?"

Jazz rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated. "You're going to _call_ me, Danny, so I can hear Phantom." When he opened his mouth to reply, she shushed him and continued. "Instead of talking into it or hanging up, you're going to put it in your pocket, preferably somewhere higher up. Maybe a jacket pocket? That way I should be able to hear the conversation between you and Phantom, especially if you switch to speakerphone beforehand."

"Ah. Um." He blinked at her, surprised by how thought-through it was, especially considering that he didn't think she actually believed him. "That, uh, sounds good. I'll… do that."

Rather than take offense, like he had feared, Jazz laughed at his stammering. "Come on, Danny, I'm smart, remember? Just because I usually apply it to school doesn't mean I can't _scheme_."

"Don't call it scheming," he corrected, immediately, somewhat abruptly. Definitely not because he wanted to dodge the topic of 'Jazz being smarter than him, _better than him in every aspect-_ No! No, stupid brain, that was god_ damn_ Phantom speaking!

He jerked his head, forcibly shaking off the thoughts, and continued the initial thought. "Scheming is, uh. Y'know. Evil. We're just… planning. Making plans! To fight back malevolent ghosts. Or- a single, specific, malevolent ghost."

Jazz cracked up even harder, swatting her hand at him with unknown intentions. Or, well. Unknown until she managed to catch his shoulder, because she patted it a few times, comfortingly. "Alright, alright, I get it. We're making entirely couth plans to take down a malevolent ghost. No scheming."

"Yes, exactly." He nodded, forcibly, puffing himself up a little in mock offense. "We're beacons of the light, Jazz! Represent the good of humanity." Then he faltered a little, letting himself fall back into his usual slumped position. "And all that."

"Right, right." She was laughing, still, but seemed to be sobering up a _little_, at least. "When do you want to go out for this?"

"Eh." He shrugged, patting down his pocket for his phone. "There is no specific time when it's more likely for him to come out, so we might as well go for it now. Unless you had plans?"

Jazz rolled her eyes, but her lips quirked up into a fond smile. "You come first, Danny, you know that. You have your phone on you?"

"Got it right here," he said, pulling it out of his pocket and flipping it open. "So, just to be sure. I'm calling you, and then when you answer, I just put it in my pocket and ignore it?"

She nodded, pulling out her own phone. "See if you can put it in your jacket pocket, if that's not too obvious, and put it on speakerphone."

"Yeah, got it." He scrolled through his contacts, then called Jazz. "I'll go and get a jacket, then. Uh. Am I supposed to hang up after he leaves, or something?"

"We'll… see." She made an uncertain face. "I guess it kind of depends on what he'll say. If you're sure that he left, you can answer the phone. But if he might still be around, you should just say something… not so obvious, like "there he goes", and not acknowledge the phone. Or he might catch on."

"Ah. That makes sense." The call connected, and he clicked over to switch to speakerphone. "Well… Let's hope that this isn't the night that he just straight-up murders me."

"Danny!" she gasped, startled.

"Joking, joking!"

"You're the _worst_." She scoffed, but couldn't quite get the fond look out of her eyes. "Get going, or you might miss the ghost entirely."

"Oh, please." Danny rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "Like he would miss the opportunity."

* * *

Danny hurried into the school, his sneakers squealing as he slid to a halt in front of his locker. Still panting a little, he quickly twirled the lock open. As he started shoveling his books into his backpack, he became dimly aware of a human presence behind him, and he prayed to god that it wasn't Dash for once.

He turned out to be lucky, because Sam and Tucker leaned in around him, one on either side.

The feeling didn't last when he took in their expressions, complicated and muddled. And not in a good way.

"What's wrong?" he asked, feeling dread claw its way up his stomach. Had… Was this related to Phantom? Was it something it had done to him, when he had passed out? _Were_ they really the ones who found him?

"You _know_ what's wrong," Sam snarled at him, and he sincerely wondered if he did. "I can't believe you would keep that a secret for so long, Danny! Why wouldn't you have let us help _sooner_?"

Uh, that was a hard no. He definitely didn't know what this was about.

He looked away from his locker to meet her eyes, trying to convey how much he _didn't_ know what she was talking about. "Sam, I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on, are you really going to act like nothing happened last night?" Tucker scoffed from his other side. "After everything you told us? You _showed us_, dude, there's no taking that back."

"Showed you _what_?" he asked, emphasizing the last word. "I really don't know what you two are talking about!"

"We're talking about you being _half-ghost_," Sam finally snapped at him, fury burning in her eyes. "That's what we're fucking talking about! Now will you stop pretending last night didn't happen and _talk_ to us?"

"I, uh. What?" He blinked, caught off-guard by the revelation. What- Oh, god, Phantom. What had it _done_? "I'm not- I'm not half-ghost, or- or anything besides an ordinary human! Who told you that? Was it that damn ghost? Because I swear, there's something wrong with-"

"_You_ told us!" Tucker bit at him, now also angry. "Don't- Don't pretend that you aren't! You came over, last night, and you fucking _showed_ us, man! Regular you, and your ghost form, and how your powers carry over and shit!"

"I did _what_?" How had-

Oh, god. He hadn't just passed out. Phantom had- had _possessed_ him, had played around with him _in his body_.

"Oh," he said, quietly, pressing his head against the lockers. "Oh man. That _fucking_ ghost, I swear."

"We won't tell Jazz, alright? Or your parents." Tucker nudged him, a worried crease to his brow. "We can figure this out, just the three of us. Yeah?"

"Yeah," he repeated, blankly. "Yeah. We'll… deal with it."

"And any ghost that threatens this down will deal with us," Sam added, anger settling into fierce determination. "Team Phantom will protect this town!"

* * *

"Daniel," the ghost purred, tone playful, as it faded into visibility.

"Phantom," he greeted back, fists clenched. He was powerless against it, still. He might've learned to defend against its overshadowing, but he couldn't fight it. All of his parents' inventions, no matter how successful, somehow never affected Phantom.

He was pretty sure the ghost had something to do with that, too.

"Nice evening for a stroll, hmm?" Phantom swirled around him, long spectral tail crawling over Danny's spine and flicking his hair. "Pretty lonely, though. Friends weren't interested in coming along?"

He snorted dismissively. "Yeah, wonder why that is?" He was about to add more, but realized that it might be too taunting for Jazz, and bit it back instead.

"Oh, hmm, yes, I _do_ wonder." The ghost flipped onto its side, one finger tapped its chin as it faked thinking. "You three were always so close… a friendship made to last a lifetime, no?"

This time Danny couldn't stop himself from blurting at the ghost, "You gonna tell me what you did and _why_, or are you just gonna taunt me with it the whole time?"

The ghost clicked its tongue, chastising. "Danny, Danny. So _impatient_. See, that's what you living don't get. There's no need to _rush_ through life! After all, it'll end soon enough!"

"Is that a threat, or just a general statement?" Danny narrowed his eyes at the ghost, for once glad that it was staying somewhat close. Hopefully Jazz could hear the whole conversation. "Because I really thought you were above threatening bodily injuries, Phantom."

"Oh, please, like I would need to resort to such things." The ghost rolled its eyes, flicking the tip of its tail in Danny's face. "I would much rather ruin your life and force you to suffer living through it."

"Great," he said, flatly. "That's really nice to know. Now, are you going to tell me what you did, or are you just here to waste my time? Like you said, I only have a limited amount of it, y'know."

Phantom scoffed, then flapped a dismissive hand. "Well, I know when I am not wanted. Better leave you to your sad, lonely life, Fenton."

"Yeah, that would be nice, thanks," he answered it, dryly. "In fact, if you could fuck off entirely, that would be wonderful. I can take it from here."

The ghost hummed, its vivid eyes narrowed at him. "I don't think I will, Danny-Boy. Bye bye."

Rather than go invisible, it flew off, and Danny watched it go. Then, convinced that it was really gone, he pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

"Please tell me you heard all of that."

"_I did," _Jazz' voice answered over the phone, the sound slightly tinny. _"And god, Danny, I can't believe that this has been going on all this time, unnoticed."_

"Yeah, well." He scoffed, bitterly, still looking in the direction Phantom had gone. "Apparently people are more inclined to believe him, rather than me."

* * *

Danny swore as Dash knocked into him, sending a heated glare at the bully. Dash scowled back, then paled, suddenly.

"Oh, Danny!" he stammered out, raising his hands defensively. "Sorry, man, I didn't see it was you."

"Uh. Okay?" Danny rubbed his arm, frowning at Dash. "That hasn't exactly stopped you before, has it?"

"Well, no, but…" Dash flapped his hands about, like he was somehow trying to convey his intentions without words.

It wasn't very successful.

"You're _you_, you know?" the finally settled on, like that was any better.

"Uh huh," Danny said, nodding slowly. "Not sure if you've noticed, Dash, but I've been me my while life."

Dash scoffed. "You _know_ what I'm talking about, Fe- _Danny_. But if this is your revenge for the bullying, I get it."

"It's _not_, but okay, whatever." He was growing increasingly sure what this was about, but… "Didn't know you were the hero-worship type, Dash."

Inexplicably, the boy flushed, looking away. "Whatever, Fenton. Don't push your luck."

He stormed off, leaving Danny alone with his confusion. Man, what had Phantom done _now_?

Before he could spend too much time wondering about it, cold crawled up his spine, and he shivered with both cold and anticipation.

A ghost was here. Phantom, probably, because for all that the ghost liked to play with him, it refused to share with other ghosts. Must consider him _its_ toy, which was a pretty fucked up thought, really.

Suddenly he was pressed against the lockers in the empty hallway, a hulking ghost pinning him with a single massive gloved hand. Its skin gleamed like metal, empty green eyes narrowed, and skull-like face grinning wide. Green flames licked out of the top of its head, a ghostly mockery of a mohawk.

Then Danny's eyes caught on the hand that _wasn't_ pinning him. A huge knife, slightly curved and ecto-green, slid from the ghosts arm, and it didn't hesitate with pressing it against Danny's neck.

"I have you now, whelp," it grunted at him, a tone of elation to the echoing voice. "I will- Wait."

"Gladly," he muttered back, head tilted back as far as it could go. He was afraid to swallow away the lump caught in his throat, afraid that the motion would press the knife in too deep.

The ghost took its eyes off of him, and then, blessedly, slid the knife back into its arm. Turning the limb slightly, it peered at what appeared to be a screen, although Danny wasn't sure what it was supposed to show.

He waited for a long moment as the ghost peered at the screen, then glanced at him, then back at the screen. Finally it declared, disdainfully, "You are not the prey I was promised."

"Uh. Okay?" Danny said, feeling a deja-vu of the worst kind. Had he really swapped his regular human bully for ghosts like this one. "Um. I'm sorry to hear that?"

It peered at him, entirely green eyes narrowed. Then it made a humming noise, stepping back and releasing Danny entirely. "Yes, a shame for sure. There is no sport in hunting ordinary human beings. Run along, child."

"Sure." Danny pulled his shirt straight, then started walking away, glancing backwards a few times to make sure the ghost didn't chase him. But it didn't seem to change its mind, tapping on the screen on its arm and muttering to itself.

And all Danny could think, as he fled away, was how close he had just been to death.

Just because _one_ damn ghost had turned Danny into its personal play-thing! Because it was so set on pretending it and Danny were one and the same, that everyone believed it.

A few hallways away from the ghost, Danny stopped. Stopped, and let it all sink in. Drowned in the rush of adrenaline and terror.

And, by god. He might not be able to fight Phantom, to stop it, but he was going to find a way to stop it from overshadowing him. Even if it was the last thing he would do.

Because… Because sooner or later, that damned ghost was going to kill him anyway.

And Danny wasn't going to go down without a fight. That, he was sure of.

* * *

"You need to tell them," Jazz said, voice simultaneously stern and patient. "They're the ghost experts for a _reason_, Danny."

"I know." He wiped a hand through his eyes, tired. Exhausted, really, from months and months of this… _this_. "I know, Jazz. It's just… hard. No one ever believes me."

"I do," she assured him, even though he wasn't quite sure that she _did_. "And they will too, Danny. Haven't you heard them talk about ghosts before? Insist that Phantom _must_ be bad, because all ghosts are malevolent? They'll believe you."

Yeah. Yeah, they would have to, wouldn't they? After all, _they_ were the ones who constantly insisted that all ghosts were evil. That Phantom was just tricking the town.

The only reason he hadn't gone to them before was because he was afraid that the ghost would interfere, somehow. That the moment he distracted his parents, it would attack them, hurt them.

Overshadow them, and make them believe that same lie. Make _them_ hurt _him_, because they think that he is Phantom, too.

He swallowed, heavily, and nodded at Jazz. "Alright. Let's… Let's get it over with."

They shuffled into the room, his parents sitting at the dinner table, quietly talking. Both quietened as he and Jazz came in, looking up.

"Mom, Dad?" he asked, voice loud in the sudden silence. "Can I, uh… talk to you?"

"Of course!" His dad grinned wide, encouraging, and gestured over to the empty seats. "What about, kiddo?"

Danny licked his lips, then glanced over at Jazz. "About… About Phantom?"

He could swear that he _felt_ the mood drop at that. His parents both looked at each other, expressions complicated but not… not happy, not like they _should_ have been. Didn't they _want_ their kids to talk about ghosts?

"Ah… Of course," his dad finally managed, gesturing at the chairs again. "Come, sit down."

Nodding, he did as asked, taking the seat furthest away from his parents. Jazz followed right behind him, taking the last seat.

He opened his mouth to explain, but didn't get a chance to.

"We're so sorry, Danny-boy!" his dad blurted, eyes big and pained. "We- We suspected for a while, but we were just… We didn't want to believe, and we hurt you for it, and we're so _so_ sorry, Danny!"

Danny snapped his jaw shut again. Blinked, caught off-guard.

"Uh. Suspected… what, exactly?"

"That you are Danny Phantom." His mom folded her hands together so tightly he was sure her knuckled were turning white. Her hood was pulled away for once, her eyes visible, full of hurt. "It was… It should've been obvious. It _was_ obvious. But we let you get hurt just because we didn't want to accept that. And we're sorry, Danny. We messed up."

"I- That's not…" He swallowed, feeling like his throat was closing up. His parents were so emotional, so focused on apologizing, and he was sure that he would be dying of acceptance if he was, you know, _actually half-ghost_. "I'm not Danny Phantom. That's what I wanted to talk about. I want you to help me stop him. Stop _it_."

His parents shared another glance, and he saw that they were gearing up for another soothing speech about _love_ and _acceptance_ and he couldn't- he couldn't bear to hear it, so he continued before they could speak up.

"I'm _not_ alright? Phantom has been haunting me for _months_, pretending to be me. At the start he would overshadow me for hours on end, cementing in the lie. And by the time I could throw him off, it was too late. Because… Because people believe _him_, and not _me_. And… And if you don't believe me, just ask Jazz! Because she heard him, now, taunting me when he's sure no one else is around to overhear!"

He turned to shoot a begging look at Jazz, and she smiled back, soothingly. To their parents, she said, "He's right. I heard him talk to Danny earlier today, and… and it was _awful_. Phantom is out to make Danny's life a living hell, and he isn't afraid of playing dirty to achieve that."

"He's getting worse and worse," Danny agreed, drawing the attention back to him. "At first he was a pain, yes, making people believe I was half-ghost and all that, but it wasn't… It was mostly just limited to me. Now he's causing more and more trouble, and blaming it all on me, because everyone thinks he _is_ me. Tucker and Sam are both so mad at me that they won't even _talk_ to me anymore, and I don't even know what he did to them! And- And before we know it, he's going to seriously hurt someone, and we can't wait for that to happen."

"Well… dang," his dad said, finally, voice far more quiet than Jack Fenton's voice had any right to be. "That's… quite the story, Danny. Of course we'll help you, kiddo."

"And I think I know _just_ the way to do it." His mom grinned, wide. "We'll stop Phantom, and we'll clear your reputation, in one fell swoop."

Danny leaned forward, a smile creeping onto his face as excitement sparked in his chest, and said,

"Deal."

* * *

The lab was empty, the noise of his boots scraping over the floor loud and echoing ominously. In front of him loomed the giant arch of metal that his parents had worked on for so, so long. The tunnel behind it was dark, the cables that through it barely visible even at the very start of it.

Danny swallowed, thickly, and pulled at the edge of one of his gloves. The material of the jumpsuit was uncomfortable, unfamiliar. But it was designed to protect. He couldn't afford _not_ wearing it.

He stretched a little, attempting to get the thick white material to settle better. Tugged on his black collar to stop it from cutting into his throat quite as badly.

Confident that he had stalled as much as he could afford to, Danny wandered over to the Portal's computer console. He checked all its data, all its settings, assuring himself that everything was as it should be.

Cold ran over his spine, and Danny braced himself for what he knew was coming.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the ghost snapped at him, visible the moment it passed through the walls of the lab. Agitated, it continued to fly laps, rather than pause in front of Danny like usual.

"What do _you_ think I'm doing?" he taunted back, crossing his arms and leaning back against the Portal console. One of the panels was partly unscrewed, and he was counting on the ghost being too upset to notice—or just straight-up not care. Hidden behind it was a gun, in case Phantom lashed out.

The ghost snarled, suddenly coming to a halt in front of Danny. The green of its irises burned like flames, the glow around its body flickering wildly. "Who do you think you are, huh? Little smartass, turning my own tactics against me! I won't let you! This is _my_ game! _I_ am the one in control, not you!"

"I don't know," Danny said, cocking his head at Phantom. The ghost still had its spectral tail, the limb twitching in agitation. "Doesn't really look like it, does it?"

It growled, suddenly shooting forwards and grabbing him. White fake-hazmat digging into white _real_ hazmat. "Think you're smart, do you? Ha!"

Phantom released him again, flying a circle, then landing on the floor. Its tail split back into legs, and it stood in front of Danny. Looked exactly like him but color-inverted, now, both dressed in hazmat.

"This is _my_ game! _I_ am the one who gets to make these choices! You are _my_ plaything, my little human whose life I can ruin all I want! And now you've gone and cut off the ghosts! All of those delicious, trouble-making ghosts, whose presence I could blame on you! After all, if _you_ had just been a little better at being a hero, you would've stopped them! Right, _Danny Phantom_?"

Danny rolled his eyes, playing unimpressed. Not that it was all that hard—he'd grown used to doing it whenever he had to deal with Phantom. "Yes, I'm sure your upset has nothing to do with the fact that I cut off your supply of ectoplasmic energy. Not like you need that to exist in the human realm, right?"

And then he leaned forward, pressing into Phantom's personal space, like the ghost had so often done to him, and grinned. "Now who's making do, huh?"

"Wha-" was all the ghost managed before a blue vortex burst into life behind it, quickly drawing him backwards and away from Danny.

Jazz capped the Fenton Thermos, a vicious grin on her face. She was flanked by their parents on either side, weapons drawn and aimed right where Phantom had been. Hidden in a secret nook of the lab, unknown to everyone. Everyone, including Phantom.

"Got it," she said, flipping a switch on the Thermos to lock it. "And it's not getting out again."

Danny laughed, relief washing over him with a force he hadn't known it could possess. He laughed, carefree for the first time in months. His eyes searched out the camera, the light on it blinking, proof that it had recorded the whole thing.

He smiled up at it, feeling lighter than ever before in his life, and said,

"And finally, _finally_, I am free! Phantom will never bother us _ever_ again!"

* * *

AU 2 out of 2 from my general fic ideas list, whoo hoo. I've been sitting on this concept for so hecking long, although I had no clear planning for the fic until I started writing it. Was definitely gonna be all angst but, well. Jazz happened. Also shoutout to the Fenton parents for trying to be accepting but totally falling for Phantom's trick along the way.


End file.
